Position marker



C. W. FOWLER POSITION MARKER Filed Aug. 15, 1967 March ll, 1969 INVENTOR CALVIN VV. FOWLER JATTOIWEYS,

3,431,852 POSITION MARKER Calvin W. Fowler, Millersville, Md., assignor, by mesne assignments, to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed Aug. 15, 1967, Ser. No. 661,174 U.S. Cl. 102-32 7 Claims Int. Cl. F42b 13/44 ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE Background Heretofore, the technique used to accomplish this function was to deploy a parachute after the munition had penetrated the canopy. This procedure resulted in the deployed parachute attached to the payload hanging in the tree-tops :while the outer housing would fall through the canopy to the ground. The disadvantages to tlhis procedure were found to be:

(a) Although numerous parachute configurations were tested, none achieved consistent, reliable hang-up in the tops of trees;

(b) It was -found that any parachute size and configuration which presented even a minimum chance of hang-up would drift away from the penetration point by significant distances in comparatively low wind-speed conditions;

(c) In order to package the parachute so that it will deploy reliably, a significant portion of the available volume is occupied, taking away from that which would be available for the payload;

(d) The inherent characteristic of this technique which involves the outer housing falling through to the ground after parachute deployment is undesirable not only because of the potential danger of the launcher 'being hit but `also because of the disadvantages associated with the abandonment of used metallic components.

Summary of the invention The apparatus of this invention is an assembly designed to be launched from the ground with a payload of smoke canisters which are connected lby expandable means to the projectile body and when ejected form a configuration of falling parts that will reliably entangle with the canopy of the tree-tops and maintain the smoke marker at that height until it is burnt-out.

Description of the drawing The figure of the drawing is adiagrammatical longitudinal section of the assembly in which:

The projectile body 1 closed at the rear-end houses a major portion of the open-end cylindrical canister or container 2 in which are placed the smoke charges 3; the canister 2. has a front end closure 4 with an eyefbolt 5 screwed therein. and 'attached to a foldable length of tether 6 which is connected at the other end 7 to the projectile bjody 1; an ogive 8 extends over the front end of the canister 2 and is held in place by the circular crimped joint 9 against the tension of the coiled spring 10 interposed fbetween the ogive 8 and the closure 4; the crimped connection 9 between ogive 8 and a forward sleeve extension 1a of the projectile body 1 acts as a seal designed to be broken when ni-ted States Patent 0 3,43L852 Patented Mar. 1l, 1969 ICC the internal pressure of the projectile attains a predetermined level; the rear-end of the canister 2 is closed by a circular insert 11 which contains a starter mix 12 encased in a tfuze cord 13 and the combination is used to ignite the smoke charges 3; the enlarged head 14 of the projectile body 1 contains a chain ignition arrangement consisting of an ignition composition 15 activated at launching, a separation charge 16 adapted to eject the canister 2 with the smoke charges 3 therein after a hold provided by the delay mix 17 interposed therebetween which is used to delay ejection until the projectile body has reached its full height above the canopy of the treetops; the head 14 of the projectile body nests in the cartridge 1-8 containing a primer 19" for activating the launch charge 20. The cartridge 18 remains in the launching mechanism.

In operation, the position marker assembly may be tired in any suitable manner, in this embodiment an M 79 grenade launcher (not shown) is employed by activating the primer 19 to ignite the launch charge 20 thereby forcing the projectile body 1 out of the cartridge 1'8 and simultaneously activate the ignition composition 15, with the ignition of the separation charge 16 being delayed by the `delay mix 17 while the assembly penetrates the canopy of the tree-tops and attains the limit of height attainalble from the launcher; by the time this altitude has been reached the delay mix has been exhausted and ignited the separation charge 16 which builds up pressure Within the projectile to a point suicient to break the pressure seal of the crimped joint 9 whereupon the ogive 8 is completely separated from the projectile body sleeve extension assembly by the force of the coiled spring 10 while the ignited smoke charges 3 are also ejected with the canister 2 from the projectile body 1 and the tether 6 unfolds to the limit to deploy the configuration of the falling smoking canister connected to the projectile body and designed when reaching the canopy of the tree tops to entangle therewith and maintain the marker at that height.

The designed conguration produced by this position marker assembly resulted in the following advantages;

(a) Consistent and reliable device hang-up very near the tops of the trees;

(b) Since this deployed configuration is free-falling back into the canopy, there is very little wind drift from the point of canopy penetration;

(c) The simple construction of this concept is less costly because it lack-s additional bulky components and because of this, it leaves a larger percentage of available space for payload;

(d) The only large metallic component falling through to the ground is the ogive, because in this conguration the projectile body remains attached by the tether to the payload and remains in the tree-tops with the marker.

(e) 'llhe sleeve extension 1a is of less diameter than the outer diameter of projectile body 1 and extends beyond the forward end of such body so that the ogive 8 can telescopically receive the en'd of the sleeve extension while not projecting beyond the outer diameter of the projectile body. The extension 1w is secured in any suitable manner within an interiorly recessed portion of the open end of the projectile body 1, and in addition to its connection to ogive 8 the sleeve 1a assists in securing the tether 6 to the projectile body 1. 'Ihe forward end of the sleeve 1a may Ibe provided at its outer end with a raised head or edge portion over while the rear end of the ogive can be crimped to secure the parts in assembled position.

Wh'at is claimed is:

1. A `free fall position marker assembly designed to be launched 'from the ground comprising,

a projectile containing a smoke canister adapted to be ejected therefrom and ignited in the air and expandable means connecting said smoke canister to 3 said projectile to limit the deployment after ejection of both of these falling bodies whereby the connected falling bodies upon reaching the target become entangled with the canopy of the treetops to maintain the smoke markers at that height.

2. A free fall position marker assembly designed to be launched from the ground comprising,

a projectile containing a smoke canister adapted to be ejected therefrom and ignited in the air,

an ogive lattached to the projectile by a pressure seal,

a coiled spring between the ogive and the canister maintained in a coiled position by the pressure seal and adapted to completely separate the ogive from assembly when seal is broken and tethered means connecting said smoke canister to said projectile to deploy both for entanglement in the treetops whereby the smoke signal of the canister is maintained as a marker at that height.

3. A lfree fall position marker assembly designed to be launched from the ground comprising,

a cartridge attached to the assembly for launching from the ground,

a projectile body having an enlarged head containing a composition ignited at launching and adapted by delay means to hold ejection until desired |altitude has been attained,

said projectile body containing a smoke canister and connected thereto by a long tether and a separation charge within said enlarged head activated by the delay means for ejecting and simultaneously igniting the smoke canister whereby the falling projectile body and the smoking canister are deployed for entanglement in the canopy of the tree-tops land maintained at that level.

4. A free fall position marker assembly designed to be launched from the ground comprising,

a projectile body containing a smoke canister having fuze cords connected by a tether to said body,

an ogive maintained on the projectile by a pressure se'al and separated from the canister by a coiled spring,

a launching charge within the projectile adapted to project the assembly above the canopy of the treetops and simultaneously ignite a zirconium based composition,

delay means activated by the zirconium composition to maintain the assembly together until the desired altitude has (been reached,

a separation charge ignited by the delay means to build suicient pressure within the projectile body to break the pressure seal so that the smoke canister may be ejected from the projectile and be ignited by the `fuze cord of the canister,

said ogive completely separated from the assembly by the force of the coiled spring to avoid fouling of the tether,

said tether deploying between the projectile body and ignite canister while both are falling,

whereby the tethered projectile body and the smoke canister are positioned for entanglement in the canopylof the tree-tops to maintain the marker at that leve `5. A free fall position marker assembly designed to be launched from the ground comprising,

la cartridge attached to the assembly containing a primer and a launch charge,

a projectile body having a head nesting within said cartridge,

said head having an ignition composition adapted to be ignited by the launch charge and a separation charge for ejection with a delay mix interposed therebetween,

a cylindrical container for smoke charges with the rear end inserted into the projectile body and said end tted with a cylindrical closure,

said closure containing a starter mix for igniting the smoke charges encased in a fuze cord adapted to be activated by the separation charge and expandable means connecting said smoke container to said projectile body to limit the deployment after ejection of both of these falling bodies whereby the connected falling bodies upon reaching the target become entangled with the canopy of the treetops to maintain the smoke markers at that height.

6. A free fall position marker assembly designed to be launched from the ground comprising,

an open-ended cylindrical smoke canister having a circular insert at the rear end containing a fuze cord enclosing a starter mix for ignition of said canister when reaching the air,

a projectile body having an enlarged head telescoping over the rear-end of the cylindrical canister,

said enlarged head containing an ignition composition, a delay mix and a separation charge adapted to be activated in that order after launching,

a cartridge head telescoping over the enlarged head of the projectile body containing a primer and a launch charge for making the assembly airborne a closure for the front end of the canister connected by a tether to said projectile body an ogive secured on the front end of the projectile by a crimped breakable connection and a coiled spring placed between the ogive and the canister front end closure adapted upon ejection to cornpletely separate the ogive `from the falling assembly whereby the assembly is launched from the ground, ejected at the desired altitude and ignited while the falling projectile body and canister are deployed for entanglement in the canopy of tree-tops to maintain the smoke canister at that height.

7. A method of marking a position among trees from the ground comprising,

launching a projectile assembly connected by an elongated tether to a contained smoke canister and having an ogive held thereon with a pressure seal,

activating a delay means simultaneous lwith launch to permit projectile to attain suicient height above the tree tops igniting the separation charge to build up pressure suicient to break the pressure seal ejecting the canister to blow the ogive free of the assembly and separate the canister from the projectile a distance limited by the length of the connecting tether and igniting the free falling smoke canister before the entanglement of the assembly in the tree-tops to maintain the marker at that level.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,434,784 11/ 1922 Lucas 102-35 .6 1,754,986 4/ 1930 Driggs, et al. 102--32 2,322,624 6/ 1943 Forbes 102-89 2,348,240 5/1944 Braun 102-89 2,841,084 7/1958 Carlisle 102--34.4 X 3,105,438 10/ 1963 Aberg 10234.4 3,298,311 1/ 1967 Catlin 102-90 BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner.

S. C. BENTLEY, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 102-89, 90 

